5/04/2009 @ 11:10AM

Housing Data Boosts Stocks

A strong report on housing and a rally in the financial sector is driving markets higher this Monday.

Construction spending actually increased in March by 0.3%, far better than the 1.7% decline expected. In another encouraging sign, pending home sales were up 3.2% in March.

Bank of America
denied reports that it was planning to raise $10 billion in capital, and said it has not even received the final tally of its capital needs from the Fed’s stress test. The firm’s shares are up 6% in early trading. Rival
Citigroup
is up 5%.

Pepsi Bottling Group
rebuffed
PepsiCo’s
bid to control about 80.0% of the company. The bottler called the $6.0 billion price tag for itself and
PepsiAmericas
, “grossly inadequate.” PepsiCo currently owns 33.0% of Pepsi Bottling.

In earnings news,
Sprint Nextel
added 15%, after excluding charges related to layoffs, the company a profit of 3 cents. The company saw major growth in its pre-paid service, Boost Mobile.